Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Director Clint Eastwood doesn’t waste a single bullet in the production of Hereafter. In
fact, bullets aren’t even a part of the script. But that doesn’t mean
people don’t die or leave others behind to deal with the aftereffect of
their demise. Death, when depicted in this film’s natural disaster, an
accident and supposed terrorist attack, is often sudden and startlingly
realistic. But in comparison to those brief intense scenes, the rest of
the storyline ambles along at an unhurried pace introducing the movie’s
main characters. Though they live in different parts of the world, we
know they will eventually find one another—even if we haven’t seen the
trailer. Yet it takes most of the movie to make that happen.

On the San Francisco docks, George Lonegan (Matt Damon) works in a
sugar factory. After hours, his brother Billy (Jay Mohr) badgers him to
reopen an office and cash in on his gift as a psychic. Billy even goes
so far as to show up at George’s apartment with the occasional client
(Richard Kind).

However George recognizes that knowing everything about
a person weighs heavily on him and hampers the ability to build a
long-term relationship. (Still, George is not opposed to trying to do
so with his cooking class partner played Bryce Dallas Howard.)

Meanwhile Marie LeLay (Cécile De France), a French journalist, deals
with the posttraumatic symptoms of being caught in the crushing waves
of a tsunami while on vacation at an idyllic tropical resort. Her
experience with seeing shadows of the afterlife has left her grasping
for a deeper understanding about what happens when a person passes.

Finally, a young London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren)
searches for consolation after the death of a close family member. But
his succession of visits to psychics, who use mirror gazing, high
frequency microphones and other measures to contact the dead, leaves
him disillusioned and often unresponsive to the compassionate gestures
of living people around him.

In the final minutes of the film, Eastwood manages to bring the trio
together through a series of coincidences that even feel somewhat
believable. Yet it appears to be all for naught. After building up some
strong sexual tension in a kitchen scene and coaxing out convincing,
emotional performances from many of his actors, Eastwood doesn’t seem
to capitalize on what could have been a powerful climatic conclusion to
the story.

While many of his other productions (among them Million Dollar Baby, Changeling, and Gran Torino)
have given audiences plenty of opportunity to debate his characters’
actions, this script fails to justify the instant connection between
individuals or the film’s seemingly abrupt ending. Still the
possibility of life after death is an idea that will likely spark
discussion among viewers once again. And with only a single strong
sexual expletive and a handful of other profanities, the death scenes
offer the most concerns for parents who may be considering an outing
with their older teens to see this ammunition-free movie.